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Jalen Rose Discusses Fab Five Documentary

Jalen Rose was made available via conference call today to discuss the upcoming Fab Five documentary that will debut this Sunday at 9 p.m on ESPN. Rose produced the film which aims to give an unfiltered look at the Fab Five. Here are a few notes and quotes from the call.

“The story of the Fab Five has never really been told.” Mentioned Mitch Albom’s book, but said the definitive story, taking everything that is now known into account, has never been told. The film is in a way a sort of “Bible” of the Fab Five.

Mentioned a notable omission: No 2011 Chris Webber interview. “He felt like at this time he didn’t want to speak and talk about his portrayal of how things went those couple of seasons … anyone who sees it knows that we really went in-depth about everything: the good, the bad, the ugly and the scandal.”

On the recruitment of the Fab Five: Everyone’s recruiting situation was different.” Five All-Americans, four McDonald’s All-Americans. “Juwan Howard, he took the first leap of faith.” Then came Jimmy King and Ray Jackson. Then C-Webb and Jalen both signed after they played their respective State Championship games. Wore number 4 and 5 to signify that they were the fourth and fifth players to sign.

Both Jalen and Webber took other recruiting trips. Chris went to Duke and Jalen was very much into Syracuse and following Derrick Coleman and Michigan State also. But Chris and Jalen “felt like we were a package deal since eighth graders.”

1990 Final Four MVP and UNLV Anderson Hunt is an alumnus of Detroit Southwestern, where Jalen played in high school and was a major connection between the swagger and style that the Runnin’ Rebels brought to college basketball and what the Fab Five brought. “I looked up to the Vegas team.”

On Duke (and why the Fab Five hated them so much): Duke represented “just the opposite of what we did (hip-hop, trash talk, urban attitude) … it was like good vs. evil.”

“When you signed a letter of intent to play football for the University of Miami, to go play basketball at UNLV or the University of Michigan, you were viewed one way. If you signed to play at Indiana, at Duke or play at Notre Dame, you were viewed another way. That’s just a fact that still exists today. They (Duke) recruit a certain kind of player. The majority of their black athletes, and there are exceptions to every rule, are from well-to-do families … as an inner-city player, you knew that that type of school wouldn’t recruit a player like you and that was frustrating.”

Said the doc will show a lot of the hate mail the Fab Five received from all over, even Michigan alumni.

Said Steve Fisher’s San Diego State team this year is vindication for “the world that only felt he just rolled out basketballs and didn’t discipline us and just let us play and do whatever we wanted to do and run all over him.”

Jalen quoting Steve Fisher when Fisher was asked to participate in the doc: “Jalen, if you weren’t a part of this thing, I would not be doing it. No way, no how. I don’t want to say anything bad about the University of Michigan.”

“The parents of the kids nowadays were Fab Five fans. They grew up in that era.” Said he’s very happy with this Michigan basketball season, but said Michigan will not be able to take steps toward becoming a national power until it remedies its relationship with the Fab Five because of recruiting.

“This documentary gives you an opportunity to celebrate with us, it gives you and opportunity to scratch your head and wonder what we were thinking, it give you the opportunity to chastise and question us on and off the floor, it gives you an opportunity to have joy from us. But it also gives you an opportunity to know us better … for those who didn’t like us, this is going to make it worse.”

Said he hopes the film goes a long way toward a reconciliation. Has discussed a reconciliation with both Dave Brandon and Mary Sue Coleman. It’s up to the University when March of 2013 arrives. “Michigan has to do what a lot of other great institutions have done: embrace their past and appreciate the players and the sacrifices they made for the University.”

The gesture that would mean the most from the University would be to put the team banners back up.